


Shades of Red

by caimanriseup



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, M/M, another one of those you see as much as you want in this fic sorta things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 02:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimanriseup/pseuds/caimanriseup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat hits troll puberty and Dave finds himself as the only one who can help Karkat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shades of Red

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oshii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oshii/gifts).



> Here's a fanfic I wrote for a little fic exchange me and my friend were doing for Christmas. She wanted some Davekat and while it's not really my thing I think I did okay??? The Davekat is kinda subtle (I could do a little pale Davekat myself), but hopefully enjoyable regardless.

You can’t believe you’re doing this. It’s not that you hate Karkat; he’s just not worth your time. Why spend time arguing with him when your time would be better spent working on your sick rhymes, working in can town with WV, or wondering when your best man John was going to get here. But Terezi had practically begged him to check on the loudmouth troll. You had wanted to tell her to do it herself, but you didn’t really want to get into the awkwardness that would result in you dredging up their past romantic issues.

So, here you were, making your way through the crappy meteor laboratory to check on Karkat. It would only take a second. A horrible, most likely screech-filled second, but a second nonetheless. You finally arrived at Karkat’s room. The door slid open with a soft whish. You peered into the darkness, not seeing Karkat at all. It took all your willpower not to leave and tell Terezi he was fine. Taking a wary step forward you yelled, “Yo, Karkat, you alive in here?”

A groan answers you. The weird troll sleeping pile shivers ever so softly. You wouldn’t call it worry that needles the back of your mind, but it Karkat must be doing bad if he couldn’t even respond with an insult you didn’t entirely understand. You walk over to the pile, tossing away some horns until you see Karkat’s face. You step back, horrified to find Karkat’s gray skin peeling away like old, ugly sunburn, except the skin is red and raw underneath.

“Karkat, what the fuck dude?”

He groaned and buried himself deeper in the pile. Your mind was racing. Oh god, had he contracted some weird troll disease? Was it contagious? You very delicately assess the situation, deciding the best course of action was to run out of the room as quickly as possible.

After a long and more than needlessly detailed conversation with Kanaya, you find out that Karkat is molting, part of the disgustingly glorious miracle of troll puberty. Apparently Karkat’s was extra painful. Most trolls went through it briefly and relatively minimal physical pain (hormonally was a completely different matter), but that didn’t seem to be the case with Karkat. The best Kanaya could come up with was that his mutant blood was affecting him. As far as you were concerned, you wanted to know as little amount as possible about freaky troll biology.

It’s not that you don’t feel bad for Karkat. That really looked like it sucked and it’s a little bit too quiet around the meteor. Between the quiet and everyone fretting over Karkat, your nerves were on edge. After three days of this nonsense, you finally step in, relieving your sister of the day watch. She was reluctant to leave and you were a little bit hurt that she couldn’t trust you not to suplex a sick troll. “Seriously, Rose. I got this. You go lie down. You look like shit.”

“Thanks. You have a way with words…are you sure you’ll be all right with Karkat?”

“I think I can handle him fine.”

“Well, all right. If he needs it, give him some of the ointment Kanaya alchemized, and if you need anything—”

“See ya, Rose,” you shout over your shoulder as you walk to Karkat’s room. Once again, you find the room in complete darkness, Karkat huddled in his pile. 

You creep over to a chair, hoping that he’s asleep, though your hopes are quickly dashed as he coughs and moans, “I don’t need to be grubsat.”

“Hey man, I’m not any happier about this either. I’m just doing this for the others. Just go back to sleep.”

“I would if I could, bulge brain,” Karkat said weakly, curling up into a tighter ball.

You have a pang of sympathy. You remember times when you spent longer than you should have out in the Texas sun and suffered some wicked sunburns you guess aren’t too far from where Karkat is right now. “Is that ointment working?”

An irritated huff is your answer. “Here, I got an idea. Gimme a minute.”

You head off to alchemize some items. You’re not nearly as good at this whole process as Rose, but you manage to make a small vial of what you need and a box fan. You come back, shoving the vial at Karkat. “Here’s some aloe. That should take care of it.”

Karkat doesn’t move an inch. Slowly, you realize if Karkat is going to get any relief, you’re going to have to take care of him yourself. You know you should have left him to himself. But god damnit, he was in such rotten shape. You were cool and stoic, not heartless. With a heavy sigh you smear the aloe on him as quick as possible. Once you finish, you plug in and get the fan going.

“Holy shit,” Karkat sighed in relief.

You nod in agreement. “Yeah, that usually works for me too.”

‘This fucking sucks.”

“That’s puberty for you,” you chuckle. You can’t help but sympathize a little bit, considering you’re in the throes of puberty yourself. Granted, you don’t peel like an old banana, but still. “You ever gonna let Kanaya come in here? She’s been worrying about you.”

Karkat mumbles something you can’t quite hear. You ask him to repeat what he said and he blurts out, “I don’t want them to see my fucking eyes!”

You look down and for the first time you notice his eyes are turning a candy red. Right, you remember someone mentioning that part of troll anatomy. You shrug as you ask, “So, all you troll’s eyes do that, don’t they?”

“Not this color! I’m a mutant…a freak.” Oh God, is that a hint of a sob you hear? The last thing you want to deal with is Karkat crying all over you.

You pat him on the shoulder. “Come on, nobody cares. I think everyone knows about that anyway. It’s not that weird, humans got that color blood too.”

“But I’m not a human.”

Jeesh, this troll shit is dumb. Of all the things to get worked up about is your freaking blood color. You rub the side of the head, your fingers grazing the edges of your glasses. That’s when a solution comes to you. You tell Karkat to hang on as you hit up the alchemizer one more time. You return with a pair of shades not too different than yours. Before he can protest you shove them onto his face. “There, now nobody is going to be able to see your eyes.”

“This is so fucking stupid. I look like a huge tool,” he grumbles. “God, I’m probably going to start sweating any second.”

“Hey, don’t diss the shades. You’re the one that doesn’t want anyone to see your eyes.”

Karkat peeks over his glasses and you notice his eyes go wide. “Your eyes…they’re the same color.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s like a condition or something. No biggy.” You wave it off. You had sort of forgotten all about how strange your eye color was. Hadn’t had anyone around to comment around it for awhile. You remembered how kids at school would tease you about your eyes. You shiver as you realize you can relate to Karkat. Before this gets any weirder you stand up, “I’m getting Kanaya.”

You leave, swearing you hear a thank you as the door slides shut.


End file.
